Olukemi Kehinde Amodu is a Professor of Genetics/Molecular Biology and Public Health. Her landmark Doctoral/Postdoctoral research demonstrated that quantifying haemozoin/malaria pigment within neutrophils correlates with malaria severity, establishing haemozoin as a reliable prognostic biomarker. She also discovered a polymorphic 16-copy, 11-base pair repeat variant upstream of the msp-2 gene, revealing its potential regulatory role in gene transcription and offering novel insights for vaccine design. From several funded studies, she also identified human genetic determinants, including blood group B, variants in ferroportin, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and Toll-like receptors as risk enhancers for severe malaria, providing a basis for precision-targeted interventions. Her research intricately links disease to genetic inheritance, highlighting how precision public health can apply genetics to disease prevention.
Olukemi has clearly demonstrated an enviable capability for cutting-edge research by establishing a Genetics/Molecular Biology laboratory at the Institute of Child Health, University of Ibadan. She pioneered the Public Health Biotechnology (PHB) program in 2016, demonstrating her commitment to capacity building. This program bridges a vital gap in applying Genetics/Molecular Sciences/Bioinformatics to Public Health. PHB program has trained over 100 MSc (many graduates are excelling globally in academic/research and tech fields) and nine PhD students (finalists and in-training). She also established the hybrid E-classroom, in partnership with FCMB in 2021 to foster borderless learning.
Olukemi has collaborated with local and international experts and several international consortia. Her peer-reviewed publications (about 130), include books, journal articles, gene/sequence databases and patents, with a Google citation of 3,840 and an h-index of 26. Olukemi has successfully supervised five PhD students, 25 MPhil/MPH and over 60 MSc students. She was Director of the Institute of Child Health (2019-2022) and Co-Chair of the UI@75 International Innovation Conference. She is an expert reviewer for granting bodies (eg.US-NIH, EU-Global-Health-EDCTP3 Program) and an assessor for promotion to Professorial grade.